Home Theater

Sean Portnoy covers HDTVs, Blu-ray, home theater equipment, and anything else that turns the living room into your media center.

Sean Portnoy

Sean Portnoy started his tech writing career at ZDNet nearly a decade ago. He then spent several years as an editor at Computer Shopper magazine, most recently serving as online executive editor. He received a B.A. from Brown University and an M.A. from the University of Southern California.

Latest Posts

There's been talk that Microsoft was working on a TV subscription service that would let consumers bypass pay TV providers and watch live programming on their Xbox 360 or other device. According to Reuters, that chatter was accurate, but any hopes viewers would have about a Microsoft TV have been dashed, as the tech Goliath has put the idea on the back burner.

In the wake of LG's announcement that it was releasing a 55-inch OLED set this year, Samsung has matched it with an OLED set of its own. The 55-inch Super OLED HDTV (being shown off above at Samsung's press conference yesterday) is expected to debut in the second half of the year, though as with the LG, there is no pricing info yet.

Thanks to those good ol' FCC filings, we now know that Comcast's Skype add-on camera for Xfinity set-top boxes is getting closer to reaching customers. Engadget was able to obtain more information about the unit, including the photo you see above.

Google TV is under heavy pressure to show some successes as Apple supposedly readies a TV set and Microsoft continues to steal the connected living room thunder with its Xbox 360 console. In advance of CES, the company has announced a new partner, as well as further commitments from a few previously announced partners.

LG sure has a big show in store for CES next month. First, the company announced that it will exhibit its long-awaited 55-inch OLED TV, and next it has disclosed that it will also display an 84-inch 3D LCD that features 4k resolution.

Forget souped-up set-top boxes with fancy new UIs: Verizon hopes to eliminate them altogether with a new system that uses a home media server to distribute video to all devices around your house.In a new promo video, the company lays out plans to eliminate set-top boxes for its FiOS pay TV service and replace them with a centralized server and tiny, more energy efficient boxes that merely relay info from the server to your TVs.

In recent briefings to media executives about its plans for an eventual Apple television, the company floated a number of ideas to shake up how you watch video in your living room. While some will seem familiar or obvious at this point -- Siri-based voice controls and iCloud integration -- integrating DVR capabilities hadn't been bandied about as much.

When you're not fast forwarding through commercials during shows recorded on your DVR, you may have noticed that some pesky ads try to blast into your brain by being 10 decibels louder than the show you're watching. Thanks to the FCC, you'll no longer have to scramble for your remote to quickly turn the volume down.

Many consumers have been less than enthused about 3D TVs, whether because of a lack of viewing options, the additional cost of the sets, or the need to wear glasses while watching 3D content. Nonetheless, the shipments of 3D LCD televisions continue to grow significantly, according to market research firm NPD DisplaySearch.

While the TV industry (and fanboys) waits to see when, and if, Apple decides to finally launch a long-rumored television, an analyst is predicting that TV functionality may wind up in Apple's computers first.According to AppleInsider, Wedge Partners' Brian Blair is forecasting that before an Apple HDTV is unveiled, its ecosystem -- Apple TV software and iCloud access -- could be built into new iMacs, which Blair believes will be redesigned for the first half of 2012.

Best Buy enjoys being sneaky with its Black Friday ads, waiting to serve up part two after you've had time to digest the leaking of the first part of the advertisement. This year is no different, as the electronics retailer has released the second half of its Black Friday sales, including several more HDTV specials.

As we approach Black Friday, the final ads are being leaked, with a few more TV deals for you to consider. The big guys -- including Best Buy and Walmart -- have already seen their ads released, and now it's time for other retailers to join the fray.